Follow these tips to avoid work at home burn out!“Image courtesy of Vectorolie / FreeDigitalPhotos.net”.

Before beginning our work at home careers, many of us had unrealistic expectations regarding the ease and simplicity of said career.

Examples:

Working at home will be way easier than working outside of the home!I won’t have all of the stress I have now when I start my work at home business.I’ll never get tired of my job when I am working at home.

To those statements I say – nonsense, hogwash, poppycock! Those of us with these unrealistic expectations—not everyone has them and not everyone has the same ones—quickly found out that working from home can be just as stressful and tiring as working anywhere else. Especially given the fact that you are now the worker bee and the boss!

Today I want to talk to you about ways you can make your life a little less stressful when you work at home and nip work from home burnout in the bud before it starts.

Balance Your Work at Home Life with a Social Life

All work and no play does indeed make Jack, or Jill, a dull, sad, stressed individual. You need downtime—everyone does. Don’t get so caught up in making your business successful that you don’t enjoy the rewards. Spend time away from your work with family and/or friends. Give yourself permission to have a life outside of work. Take the time each day to read a book, watch a TV show, take a walk or spend a quiet dinner with your family. Working all of the time can quickly lead to burnout and keep you from enjoying the reasons you decided you wanted more freedoms in your work life in the first place.

Learn to Relax During a Stressful Work at Home Day

The work that freelancers, home based business people and other work at home individuals do can be stressful? Well sure it can. For one thing many of us have deadlines that we have to meet—all while still being moms, dads, caregivers or simply living our lives. Stress comes in all sized packages and needs to be controlled so that we can stay productive. My suggestion is to know where your stress level is at—at all times. If you are feeling overwhelmed, walk away for a few minutes and evaluate the situation. You may want to take a walk, meditate, exercise or simply sit and think about something else for a few minutes. Find that one thing that helps you relieve stress (within reason) and do it. Don’t let your stress get the best of you. This is another reason people burnout when they work at home.

Don’t Continually Put Off Difficult Work at Home Tasks

I’ve talked to and interviewed work-at-homers regarding different elements of their work at home life. One of the things that seems to cause a lot of stress—and can lead to burnout—is the putting off of more difficult tasks.

Example: Sherri hates writing proposals; however, writing proposals is required for the type of work from home business she runs. Instead of starting on the proposal right away, Sherri always waits until the very last minute. This practice cause a lot of stress for Sherri. She has to stay up late a couple of days before her deadline to finish, which causes her to lose sleep. And, her proposals are never as good as they should be because she rushes to meet the deadline.

When we do this to ourselves we bring on a lot of unneeded stress. We don’t have to feel this way. Sherri needs to start earlier when completing any task that she sees as a problem. Sherri could also hire someone who is an expert at proposals to help her finish on time. There are always ways to find help in a situation. Don’t let these types of things cause you to feel burned out on a consistent basis.

Put the Times Your Work at Home Productivity is Higher to Good Use

You know you better than anyone. You know when you are the most productive throughout the day. Don’t waste that time! Use those hours to tackle your most difficult work at home tasks, and save the easier tasks for when you aren’t as motivated. Don’t try to multitask all of the time. Divide your time wisely and you will definitely see the benefits. If you are the most productive and motivated from 8am until 10am in the mornings, don’t spend that time reading emails. Use that as your writing time or planning time or whatever you feel you need to work at the most. You should also save this time for any work that has a deadline. Even if the deadline isn’t close, you will have more of the work completed and you can focus on other things.

Have a Work at Home To-Do List

None of us can remember every little thing we need to do on a constant basis. Forgetting tasks until the last minute, or completely, can definitely lead to work at home burnout. Don’t let yourself become overwhelmed. Make a list each night—or each morning—of all the things that you need to complete during the day. You may want to keep weekly and monthly lists as well. As soon as you complete each task, mark it off of your list. I know it sounds like too simple of a practice, but it really does help. It keeps your mind in check and you don’t have as much stress from feeling as if you have to remember everything.

I hope that you have found this list of ways to avoid work at home burnout to be useful. I would love to hear your tips for relieving stress and avoiding burnout. Leave a comment below and tell me how you keep from getting burnt out when working at home.